Russell Emms
Senior Member
Caster £4 a pint, just saying
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£18 a gallon in t'frozen North!
Don't rub it in Rob Down here, beyond Watford, where civilisation starts It's about £24 a gallon minimum for maggots, £32 for casters. Don't know what you lot moan about, you earn roughly the same as us (Central London apart) but get everything cheaper....you even get your houses half price Not that I am jealous like
Cheers, Dave.
Take your point Rob . If there are barbel in your swim using this method can be devastatingly effective , the barbel will by and large push the other 'nuisance' species out of the way so to speak . However while you are waiting for the barbel to arrive / start noshing ,the 'nuisances' will muller your hookbait unless of course you are using artificials which it appears many anglers do . Bottom line is , mass feeding like this is well worth it if there are barbel present or in close proximity , if not you are just feeding a load of different species fish that you may not want to catch , if you are going to adopt this approach hemp and tares may be a cheaper option , it has a similar effect on barbel as maggots and casters.Some good points above but I'd disagree that the method is non-selective. Sure, you'll get all sorts of species eating your loosefeed, but the way the hookbait is presented for me is what makes it selective.
The stretch of Trent I'm fishing is like an aquarium for all species - hoardes of roach, dace, bleak, chub, perch and bream as well as the barbel. Sure, I hook the odd roach and chub, but the barbel outnumber them about 50-1 in terms of fish hooked!
I would totally agree that for low stock density rivers, it is an expensive way of fishing and not one that I'd use blind in the hope barbel were in the area - thats where watercraft comes in. That said, it is still deadly effective even if fishing for small groups of fish.
Sorry Dave, but the barbel fishing is probably better too
This thread is fantastic! I'm going to give this a go on the Wey when I have some holiday in a couple of weeks time. I can sort out the rigs (inline feeder + short (fluorocarbon) hook-link), and maybe guess at the hook size / type.
One thing I'm not sure about - the river is quite coloured, so it is not easy to find gravel-based swims. I know some swims where barbel have been caught before, but I don't really want to go there - there is miles of river to go at.
Does it have to be a gravel-type swim? I guess not but with £30 odd of bait at stake, I don't want to bait-drop into a pointless area.
£30 is crazy money for a bait for just a session, no matter how good it might be, why not persevere with micro pellets or tares as previously suggested?